Every surf angler knows about the summer doldrums, that uneventful period in the middle of the summer when stripers take their daytime siestas. Warm water temperatures, little or no wave action, and a sun that climbs quickly in the sky sets an ideal stage for beachgoers but pushes stripers off the beach and onto a nighttime schedule.
To put a bend in our rod many of us switch to fluke or blues to fill the void, as this on many days becomes is the only game in town. But last summer however an amazing phenomenon took place along our coast that even had the old salts remarking “I have never seen this before”. The end of July into the beginning August was anything but dull and went down in the records books as the “invasion of the cow-nosed rays”.

Cow Nosed-Rays

Cow-nosed rays are in a class of cartilaginous fish that fall into the category of Eagle rays. They occur from southern New England to Florida and prefer warm, calm water. They are so named because they have a squarish projecting snout with an indentation at the center that is similar to the snout of a cow.

The cow-nosed are free-swimming rays and will fly gracefully through the water by flapping their large pectoral fins. They usually travel in schools by the hundreds while feeding along the bottom on clams, crabs, and other small mollusks. They can range in size from small up to large one hundred pound specimens. They bear live young and have venomous tissue near the base of their tail.

The Phenomena

Last summer during the final week of July and first two weeks of August it was an amazing site to literally see thousands of these primitive specimens gracefully soaring through the surf on any given day. These creatures were grand and flamboyant cruising about without a care in the world. On some days lifeguards in Ocean County had to close beaches to give the rays the right of way that they duly deserved. Stunned sunbathers watch for 15-20 minutes as the parade went by.

It was the entire coastline of New Jersey that saw huge concentrations of these fish with the largest numbers in the southern part of the state. Even party boat captains as far north as Sandy Hook Bay reported having clients hooking these rays on their fluke charters. Several were even boated to satisfy the curiosity of all those on board.

These rays are very docile and normally don’t pose a danger to bathers. But with the sheer numbers that were present chances of taking a hit from their whip-like tail was greatly increased. A small venomous spike at its base could inflict a wound.
In one Monmouth County beach two bathers were hit with one individual requiring first aid for puncture wounds. The other bather described feeling something wrapping around his ankle and pulling on him while standing in the water.
I spoke to Don Byrne, Marine Biologist of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries, Nacote Research Station and he confirmed “the cow-nosed rays can inflict a wound that may produce an allergic reaction in some people. It can be painful and swell up. There is no anti-venom but if stung the wound should be irrigated and antibiotic ointments applied.”
But what really made this phenomenon so incredible was that these rays presented opportunities to catch fish in the twenty to plus sixty-pound range with regularity. This situation would never present itself with any other surf species of fish. If you ever wanted practice catching big bruising fish this was it.

Tactics-Fly or Spin

It was also interesting to find that these rays were relatively easy to hook but took brute strength to catch and land on the beach. These rays would glide over the sandy bottom and vacuum up any invertebrate that looked or smelled like it was edible. A large buccal vent would direct food back towards their mouth located approximately eight inches back on their ventral anterior surface.
Both fly and spin anglers would hook the rays but fly fishers had much greater success because of their ability to emulate the small crabs that made up the rays primary forage base.

But regardless of what type of tackle you were using the rays won the battle most of the time after they were hooked.

Every angler or fly fisher that I saw hooked up and talked to said that the fight that the rays put up was the most unbelievable fight that they ever experienced. The rays never stop pulling or running, they would take to the air, and test all of your muscle. In fact most anglers quit on them before they landed them finding them next to impossible to finish off.

I had the opportunity to hook into these rays on several occasions and the initial run of a big ray is one of the most unforgettable parts of the battle. My first ray that I hooked took me deep into my backing and almost dumped my four hundred yard capacity that I had on my fly reel. And this was with the drag cranked down to just above the last click. About thirty minutes later I had the ray on the beach and estimated it to be in the sixty-pound class.

If the rays show up again this summer you will want to be prepared with your beefed up heavy duty conventional or spinning rods if you are targeting them. Whole clam, crab, squid, or chunk baits can be used, as these rays will be attracted to their smell. If they are present in the huge numbers that we had last year it will also be inevitable that you will snag one here or there if you are throwing metal in the surf for blues.

For fly tackle go with the 10 and 11 weight rods with reels that are loaded with backing. Use a sinking line like a 250 or 300 that will drag right along the bottom. For fly selection the number one producing fly was a crab fleye that Bob Popovics designed called the Jersey Shore Long Legged Crab. This sheep fleece pattern had long undulating rubber legs that attracted the ray to it.

These fleyes are exclusive from North Jetty Fly Company, owned and operated by fly tier Pete DeStepfano, PO Box 174, Seaside Park, NJ 08752. Pete is an accomplished fly tier and has emulated the baits that we see along the Jersey Shore to a tee. If you don’t tie I highly recommend his flies. Betty and Nick’s in Seaside Park and Down and Trout in Point Pleasant also carry a supply of North Jetty Flies.
As for leader systems keep them simple with a straight shot of twenty-pound mono or fluorocarbon. With the ray’s mouth set back and underneath the front of their snout the twenty held up nicely as it rubbed against the bottom and front of their head as the ray turned and dove during the fight.

A Sight Game

The fly technique was a sight fishing game where we were casting ahead of the rays that we spotted. A very slow retrieve was employed as we twitched the fly right along the bottom. The ray would slide over the fly and suck it up. When this pull was felt we set the hook with several firm strip strikes.
If you look at the anatomical make-up of these rays their mouth lies on their lower ventral surface set back about eight inches from their snout. A good number of our hook-ups however were dead center in the more anterior snout end and not right in the mouth. This is because the rays are rooting through the sand with their vents and are pushing their selected food back towards their mouth. As Bob commented, “it’s like they’re using their vents just like we use our hands”. A good hook-up none the less.

Keep an Eye Out

It’s anyone’s guess if the rays will show up again this summer along the beach but at least now we know what to look for and can be prepared if they do. Look for a several weeks of sub-tropical-like conditions with gin clear calm water during the end of July and beginning of August. These conditions will be most conducive to draw the rays right into the beach. If the surf is rough the rays will not be along the beach but can move by unnoticed beyond the breakers. If the water is clear the rays will be clearly visible, if the water is slightly turbid look for dark shadows moving along close to the bottom.